New Ulm weekly review., 1887-08-31
THE DIAMOND RING.
srcr the Whitehall Lond on) Review.

t-sseSAu VySO3 6o ue lluIieu sUu0 ring IEOm
his finger and handed it to us for in.
spect;on. He left it to mo BY his
will, and / keep it in memory OF one
.of the best actors and one Of the best
men ever knew"
Meanwhile the ring was passing
irom m hand to hand, and the univers-
al verdict was that none OF us had
ever seen a fnersstone.
Turenne was rather wealthy
man" said one of our little circle,
nbut I didn't think he could have af-
forded or would have cared to spend
so much money on an onanlent as
that ring must have cost"
He wanted it for some special pur-
pose which afterward fell through" I"
rejoined Wyse. 81 know all about it,,
for bought it for him myself, I had
quite a little adventure on the occas-
ion."
.'Teli us the story" we cried.
SWELL, said Wyse, taking a pull at
his cigar and settling himself back in
his chair, sit is a good many years
ago now. was playing high comey
characters at the old Princess, and
as | had been working very hard I
set off for the south of France as soon
as the season closed. 1t happened
that Turenne (who had proved
himself a true friend to me) wanted
good diamond for purpose needn't
trouble you with; and before set
out on my travels | told him that if 1
met with a particularly fine one at a
moderate price would buy it for him,
and he, peing too busy at the time to
attend to the matter himself, gladly
consented. l was staying at Nice,
when there came to the hotel one Of
those tall loquacious Americans who
are now SO plentiful all over Europe.
There seemed to be nothing objection
al about the man, except that he was
vulgar and eternally talking about
the United States.
''On the evening after his arrival
"a few Of us happened to be sitting in
the billlard-room, and by some
chance or other the conversation
turned on the subject OF diamonds.
"I don't know much about the
business myself said the American,
but I'm told by good judges that
fthar's about as good a stone as you'll
see in a days round
$50 saying he drew a ring from his
finger and handed it to me, who hap
pened to sit next him. 1t was, indeed
q magnificent brilliant, set in ring
of a peculiar pattern. When the lamp
was removed it seemed to gather into
Itself the light out OF the semi dark
ness, and glittered like a bit OF broken
glass in the sunshine. What is it
eworth?' asked one of the men present.
"'That can hardly tell YOU an
severed the American, seein' a friend
at Buenos sent it to me direct, and L
had it cut myself. But I'm tired of
ut, and seldom wear it,
"tWould you sell it?' I inquired,
out of curiosity.
9 4 might answered the American,
especially as this European trip is
cleaning me out faster than I expect
ed; and don't want to go home to
Vermont skinned as neatly as cod.
Yes, yes. you may have that dia-
mond tor ESQ Of your money, stran-
ger, and dirt cheap at that, / should
say.
Il looked at the stone again, and
the longer I looked at it the more l
liked it. Eighty pounds was quite as
much as my friend wished to pay for
"a stone, but whatif I could get one
for him worth G1OO for 918O?
"'Wlll you trader he asked.
81. & -, :, ;,,c,o of 4 IL, =,
self, said I, returning the. stone to it's
owner. Pm afraid I couldn't with
8sout taking lapidary's opinion as to
ats value
.'All right" said the American care
sIessly, :if you care to hev it we can
go around to a jewelers. in the morn
ing. And it he puts a lower value on
the stones than did you can hev it
at the price he names, if you like to
buy. / can't say fairer than that
The offer did, indeed. seem a very
fair one and ! went to bed that night
determined to secure the jewel for my
friend if the expert reported favor
ably of it.
Next morning the American and I
tstrolled down to the shop of the chief
.jeweler Of the town; and when we en-
tered the place I first OF all paid my
Footing by purchasing some trjhe, and
then, taking the ring from the hand of
my new acquaintance, Iplaced it be-
fore the jeweler and asked him to give
rae an opinion as to it's value.
- "A YER fine stone, sir,'' said the
Frenchman; i congratulate you on
the possession ofso fine diamond
t''It is not mine; it belongs to my
ariend here.
..'Ah! If that be the case, then I con-
:gratulate heem.' said the polite
tradesman. :" What do you suppose
lit is worth?' / asked.
s oh, it is difficult to say, said the
3 Frenchman, struggling his shoulders.
Won gentleman sinks Won price NOR
TOE him, anotter sink
es; but what would you give if
you were to buy it? Would you give